LN jg1983-12-13.jgb.early.aud-newberger-seaweed.133469.flac1644
LN jg1983-12-13.jgb.early-late.aud-minches.31253.flac1644
LN jg1983-12-13.jgb.early-late.aud-newberger.77710.flac1644
LN jg1983-12-13.jgb.late.aud-nak300.151810.flac2496
I first heard 12/13/83 in 2003, when Andrew Faintych sent me tapes from both shows recorded with Senn 421s from the 10th row by "Tom from Avon, NJ". In 2005, Bu lent me his DAT of an unattributed aud, and minches and I did our transferring and lossless thing as shnid-31253. shnid-77710 came around in 2006, and I think I listened to it in 2009. shnid-133469 came by in 2015, and I must have listened to it because I have timings, although I have no performance notes. Most recently came 151810 of the late show. It's a sign of my generalized appreciation for this show and tour that I have spun all of these, while countless hundreds of filesets, and probably a dozen or more from this very tour, sit unheard.
Given that weird batch of data, I thought I'd post all my listening notes, and present some extractions, maybe with rough datings, going in performance order. The listening notes comes last, the extractions of comments through the performance are in the middle, and the executive summary comes first.
1. What do we learn from this?
Probably not that much.
I am consistent in timing the blast-off of the early set Deal around 3:45 in, and I also note how it finds an open space at the end which I think is quite uncommon. Now of course I want to listen to the rest of the tour to see. But it's cool and worth checking out.
The late show setlist draws my eye throughout time, but I may well find that the performance doesn't quite live up to it (though my 2009 self raved).
One version of me called the late show "Catfish John" an all-timer, though others didn't bother to make a single note. Similarly, on the most recent listen I found the TUIB pretty compelling, but not so much on earlier listens (to other filesets). 2021 me also raved about the Rhapsody In Red from the Nak 300s, while others did not. The Don't Let Go gets similar notations re the vocal-instrumental doubling around 4 minutes in, and two mes also noted the sweet transition into Mid Moon. 2021 me made the particular note that DLG never returned to the song. On current thinking, that seems exceptionally rare. When did Garcia leave a song unfinished like that outside the Dead? Update: 12/4/83b DLG > Deal segue may be another case, need to double-check if DLG reprises.
2. Note Extractions
2005: Great setlists (especially the late show), and really terrific performances. The vocals are a little rough, but there is some sparkling late '83 guitar work here, lots of energy.
Mission In The Rain
2006: the start of MITR is very off sounding. What a weird sounding tape. Where is John Kahn? It's a little cringeworthy for me, as MITR could sometimes be - once he lost the fall 1975 voice with which he originally sang it, it took him years to find an arrangement that really worked - probably not until 1987. I am really enjoying the raindrop notes Garcia's painting on the ceiling of the room, and, 8:20 and a nice note 8:40. Some excellent liquid playing. It's much better to play than sing, sometimes. Melvin stepping up a little bit early 9. I need to check how long this has been instrumental, and how much lyric this covers. Great instrumental break! @ 9:51 "all the things I planned to do I only did halfway ... tomorrow will be Sunday born of rainy Saturday"
2006: wanna hear what Kemper can do for you? Check out 3:04-3:08 of this TLEO. He just does a great driving run to enthuse Melvin for his feature, which sounds fine. Sounds like his fast hard start to TWLWMYD, but in a totally different context. Great drumming, looking way ahead and navigating the whole band to the '1', everyone gets comfortable.
2006: my God you understand exactly why Garcia loves this song. He is giving this great Dylan a great treatment. Carefully phrasing himself. John takes a lead ca. 6:50. Still leading early 9, Garcia has been playing an ethereal bowing sound behind John, who's still fluttering around until Jerry takes over 9:56. That was maybe a little abrupt on poor ol' John, but Jerry has something to say. John is still doing his lead style through 10:30, so a very nice dual thing from them. Good for John not to take getting cut off lying down, but I, for one, vote that it's Jerry's turn. John had stayed very forward into early 11, by 11:30 he drops back into his normal STOF swing. I think that, overall, this is an excellent STOF.
2006: @ 3:55 this one had been dragging for me a little, then to trigger the frenzy, David Kemper just hammers down the drums and forces Jerry into action. Jerry snaps to a higher level, immediately dialing in some fuzz and juice. That piece right from late 3 over 4 is pretty smokin'. @ 5:13 Jerry writes a nice sentence, everyone is playing well. The drummer is a freaking MONSTER. Band is active but indistinct, perhaps recording or PA issue. Organ big and full in all of the spaces, painting in every contour. Jerry very high to frets 6:20. This Deal goes to a totally unique space 10 min mark, almost letting it breathe ... very rare for JGB to enter this space. They find the '1' and come back 10:50. John Kahn sounds lost, or is just not available. Not sure this is entirely successful, a little strange sounding. Unusual.
2009: found Deal hot, especially solo @3:45
Encore:
2009 found this hot
2005: Great setlists (especially the late show), and really terrific performances. The vocals are a little rough, but there is some sparkling late '83 guitar work here, lots of energy.
Set 1:
2005: The late show Catfish John is an all-time version of that song, tight all the way through and then really cooking from about the 10-minute mark.
2021: s1t03 Someday Baby a big ol yikes on the vocal clam on the first "worry my mind". He slows down and girds himself for the second one and it's a little better.
2006: TUIB and this whole set, Jerry sounds a little tired to me. Kemper picks up the tempo 1:30ff. Pretty good TUIB.
2021: TUIB is on fiyah, notes flying all over the place, spraying around indiscriminately at moments, but with laser focus at others. Around 9:30 Jerry takes TUIB a little out! Whoa, this is pretty bonkers.
Set 2:
2005: The second set of the late show is maybe just a touch disappointing, but probably only because the setlist raises expectations so much.
2021: HUGE chordal approach 5ff. The ladies tried to sing the chorus and Garcia just bulldozed, now 5:47 doing that syncopated galloping. Loud. Screaming again 9:34. John sounding strong here, too.
2003: Jerry does some really cool sing-along with his guitar in the 4-minute mark, and the jam over to Midnight Moonlight is pretty nice
2021: DLG nice vocal-guitar doubling 4. Steps out into a mode at 4:53. Man I dug this DLG. Garcia just put his head down and played with total determination for like 8 straight minutes. Melvin did some nice chunky stuff relatively early on, everyone else did their thing, but this version just found Jerry having a lot to say, and saying it. And then, fascinating true segue to Mid Moon - he never did reprise DLG, which is very rare indeed.
Midnight Moonlight2021: Mid Moon has an extra special galloping quality to signify not just the end of the show, but the end of the tour. I don't know if it's the fastest version ever, but it's done really fast.
Listening notes below the fold.
